I have been developing a game using XNA and am now at a point in the production of my game where I am testing out how the user will install the game. I know that XNA provides the usual ClickOnce publish option and also has the ability to use custom installer packages but my question goes a bit beyond that.

Part of my game (seeing as it will be my first available to the public) analyses the progress of the user and sends a metrics file to a database I have hosted on a website. That system is all set up and working however I want to prompt the user during installation to ask if sending this file is alright with them, and only have the game perform such as task with their consent.

My question is this, how do I, with either a custom bootstrapper for ClickOnce or any other installer package, convey to my game that the player has consented or not? I found this helpful tutorial which is on the right track but that just stops installation if the user selects "No".

Questions on Game Development Stack Exchange are expected to relate to game development within the scope defined by the community. Consider editing the question or leaving comments for improvement if you believe the question can be reworded to fit within the scope. Read more about reopening questions here.
If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.

4

You should probably ask it on StackOverflow, since it doesn't really matter if installing app is a game.
–
Petr AbdulinMar 6 '13 at 3:05

1

Personally I'd just ask this question the first time the game is run, just because it's easier. Heck, I'd be tempted to make this default to "on" (almost everyone does) if all you're collecting is anonymous analytics, have some kind of privacy policy, and have an option to disable it. Minecraft is a pretty reasonable example of this.
–
Andrew RussellMar 6 '13 at 6:34

1

Build it into the game, ask once at first run and save chosen setting to a config file.
–
user1306322Mar 6 '13 at 6:53